


A Home for a Traveling Heart

by angsty_nerd



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Echo fic, Established Relationship, F/M, Sexy Times, alternate universeish, starts angsty but soon is just fluffy fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:35:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21626926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angsty_nerd/pseuds/angsty_nerd
Summary: Liz runs.  And Max follows.
Relationships: Max Evans/Liz Ortecho
Comments: 20
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, I started writing this after Champagne Supernova aired, because I was 100% convinced at the time that Liz was going to take off at the end of the finale. I think I’m glad I was wrong? Maybe? Regardless, at the time, I wanted to post this before the finale aired, and I just didn’t make it. So I stopped working on it for a while. And then I picked it up again recently. 
> 
> So... since it’s post-1x11, I’m fairly nebulous about the events of the finale here. Assume that they got rid of Noah somehow. And lets just not talk about everything that happened after that!
> 
> Title is from the song “Leaving” by the Indigo Girls

**_“You are leaving Roswell_ **”, the sign read, the cartoon alien waving goodbye as she passed, and for the first time Liz felt like she could breathe again. For the past 48 hours, she felt like she was suffocating, holding her breath in an attempt to keep everything she was feeling from escaping. 

Okay, so she hadn’t literally been holding her breath, otherwise she’d be dead. But Liz felt like she was dying, the pain of her shattering heart slowly destroying her from the inside. And she was the one causing herself all of this pain. But the worst part wasn’t even her own heartbreak. The worst part was the guilt of knowing that she was doing it to him too. Because Max didn’t deserve to go through this again.

But the pain and sadness was wrapped up tightly in a noose of fear, and it had tightened more and more until she felt like she was going to die if she didn’t run. So she packed her new car to the brim, just like she had so many times before. She hugged her father and once again begged him to join her in California. She tried not to worry that he insisted on staying in Roswell. And then she was gone.

Passing the sign on the outskirts of town made it feel real. She was driving west, headed towards the ocean and a world of new opportunities to advance her science and her dreams of progress. What was behind her didn’t matter. What she was losing didn’t matter. Her armor had cracked for a few weeks, her cage broke open. It was time for her to repair the damage and rebuild the walls that protected her heart.

Hope was a dangerous thing. Love was terrifying. 

The crying out of a siren interrupted her resolve, and she glanced up to her rear mirror to see the flashing lights of law enforcement behind her. Her heart skipped a beat and she slowly pulled to the side of the road. 

She couldn’t even bring herself to look up. She hit the button to roll her window down and returned her hands to the steering wheel, face down, waiting for instructions.

The brief thought crossed her mind that usually she’s a fighter. But the guilt she felt over her attempt to flee left her feeling weak.

Her armor shattered and the tears started flowing.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He didn’t see it coming. There was no hesitance, or any sort of strange vibe from her. They didn’t get into an argument. Everything felt absolutely perfect. But he showed up at the Crashdown a little later than normal that morning for a cup of coffee and hopefully a kiss before starting patrol, and he knew the moment he walked through the doors that something was wrong.

Arturo’s eyes were a little red around the edges, like he had shed some rare tears. It was unusually still and quiet in the diner. Liz was nowhere to be seen.

Arturo cursed under his breath in Spanish at the sight of him.

“What is it, Mr. Ortecho?” He asked. “Something’s happened, hasn’t it?”

“Liz is gone,” Arturo explained. “Maybe 15 minutes ago. Heading west out of town towards California. If you hurry, you might be able to catch her.”

The bells on the Crashdown doors jingled with his exit before the last words were even out of Arturo’s mouth. He jumped into his patrol car, cut a swift u-turn, and headed for the highway.

He didn’t know how long it was before he saw her SUV steadily growing closer in front of him. He drove swiftly, well above the posted speed limits, weaving through traffic trying to reach her. 

When he was finally close enough he flipped on his lights to signal for her to pull over. When she didn’t respond immediately, he hit his siren in frustration. _Come on, Liz. It’s just me._ This time she reacted, signaling and pulling to the side of the road.

He steadied himself before opening his car door, while carefully taking in the scene in front of him. Max believed Arturo when he said that she was leaving, but hearing it and seeing the evidence right in front of him were two different things. Her car was packed full of all of her possessions, her rear view mostly blocked by bags of clothes and boxes of household supplies. He tried to remember when he had last been to her house, or in her room rather than just the diner downstairs, but he couldn’t place it. She could have been planning her escape for weeks, and somehow he never noticed.

He slowly closed the distance between their cars, trying to figure out what to say. She had shut her engine off at least, so she wasn’t going to run from the conversation. He couldn’t see her face as he stepped up to her open window. Her head was bowed over the steering wheel, long hair shrouding her face and hiding it from him. 

“Liz…” He only said her name, and was startled at how uncertain he sounded. Only after he spoke he realized that she was shaking, almost convulsing. She looked up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. 

He swiftly opened the car door, just as she released her seatbelt, and then she was out of the car and in his arms, face buried in his chest. “I’m so sorry, Max,” she blurted out as best she could through her sobs and gasps for air. “I’m sorry. You deserve so much better than this.”

Tremors were quaking through her body as she cried. All he could do was murmur soothing things in her ear as he held her and tried to help her calm down. It was a long couple of minutes before her shaking sobs slowed to trembling, and eventually near stillness. Finally she pulled back and looked up at him.

“You came after me.”

“I promised you that I would. Tell me what’s happening, Liz. Please. I know this is instinctive for you, but everything seemed fine the other day.”

“I know. I hate this. It all happened so fast, and I tried to figure out how to tell you...and I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t say goodbye to you. Because...the thing is…. if I tried to say goodbye, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to go through with it. My instinct has always been to run, but right now, every bone in my body wants me to stay with you, Max.”

“What’s in California?”

“Dr. Avila is moving the study there, to Palo Alto. A more liberal home where a controversial study is less likely to be derailed by political opposition. I’ve known for a few weeks about the move, but I hadn’t decided what to do. But then she called and pushed, said she needs me there ASAP to avoid losing anymore down time. And I just… I need to finish what I started with her.”

He bit his lower lip, trying not to feel hurt since he knew this had more to do with her own past trauma than him and their relationship. Still he didn’t quite know what to say in response. “I know how important your research is to you,” He finally said.

Liz nodded, “It's not just that though. The reason she wants me to come so badly is so that she doesn’t have to reset back to square one. With me we can quickly redo what we have to and pick back up where we left off. It should significantly shorten the timeline of completing the study. Dr. Avila thinks if all goes well, we could have some results to publish in as little as 3 months.”

“And if it doesn’t go well?”

“Six months, a year… it just depends.” Liz reached up to cup his face in her hands and looked him very seriously in the eyes. “Either way, Max, I have every intention of coming back to Roswell when we’re done. I can write up my findings from here. Easily. This is not goodbye forever.”

“Does it have to be goodbye at all?” He replied, wrapping his arms around her waist. “I promised you just a few weeks ago that I wouldn’t let you go so easily again. Is it crazy if I come to California with you?”

“But, Max… your family. Your job. You made that promise before we knew about Noah. Your sister needs you.”

“She does,” He conceded, “But I need you.”

He sighed and took a step back to think. Holding her in his arms was intoxicating. It was hard to think logically when all of his senses were filled with the sensation of being near her. He raked a hand through his hair in frustration. She wasn’t wrong. Isobel was going through a tough time and she needed support. Noah had manipulated her for so long that Isobel wasn’t even certain if any of her adult life was her own. She needed time to figure out who she was, and what her life was going to be like, now that she was free of Noah’s manipulation. 

Liz was being so damn selfless, trying to take the decision away from him and letting him stay behind with his sister. But was that really what she needed? Could Isobel ever really find herself with his constant presence guiding her along the way. They were so connected, and it was so easy to rely on that connection for comfort. Maybe a little distance would be a good thing.

He finally made his decision and turned back to Liz.

“Go to California.” He told her. “I need a little bit of time to get myself organized. Maybe a couple weeks? But I’m coming for you, Liz. I want to be there with you for however long I can be.” He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “I’m going to miss you,” he murmured.

Liz nodded her agreement. “Keep me posted on when to expect you. I’ll be waiting.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Liz had never lived in Northern California before. She had lived in 14 cities in 10 years spread all throughout the country, from Portland, Oregon in the West all the way to Boston, Massachusetts in the east. She had spent time in huge, sprawling metropolises like Los Angeles, California, and small college towns like Champaign, Illinois. If there was anything that she had discovered about herself over those unsettled years, it was that Liz Ortecho was a flexible and mobile traveler. There were very few places where she had been unable to integrate herself quickly, and even less places that were difficult to leave. Nowhere, not even Roswell, was ever missed once she had moved on. Liz Ortecho didn’t do homesickness.

But that was before she returned to Roswell and reconnected with her former life.

That was before she fell in love with Max Evans.

Palo Alto really wasn't any different than any of the other cities. It was a shiny, rich, suburban town in the shadow of Stanford University. Dr. Avila and her contacts at the hospital helped set Liz up with a small one bedroom apartment near the downtown area, walking distance from the hospital as well as the bars, restaurants, and cute little shops lining University Avenue. 

She had set a comfortable routine for herself, two weeks into her new position. An early rise and a morning walk for coffee at Philz on her way to work. She enjoyed the gloomy mornings, the cool air heavy with the coastal fog. It felt mysterious to her, shrouding the secrets of the world that were only revealed midday as the fog burned off and the sun broke through. It was so different than the dry desert air of Roswell.

Her days in the lab were long and busy as they worked to recreate their lost progress on the study. Liz was no stranger to being an obsessive workaholic, and getting the study back online gave her an easy excuse to fall back into those old bad habits. Work was a welcome distraction from missing home. From missing her father. And most especially, from missing Max.

It was harder to ignore those feelings in the evenings when she returned to her empty apartment. Some days she would call her father for the latest Roswell gossip. Maria was harder to reach since she worked nights. Most nights she had at least a quick conversation with Max, but he was busy getting ready for his journey to join her, so often times it was nothing more than a quick check in and a good night to each other.

It was an alien feeling to her, this loneliness. She had only been back in Roswell a short six months, but it was an intense six months. It changed her in more ways than she had realized. 

The wait for Max’s arrival was excruciating and it got harder with each passing day. 

The Friday that he was meant to arrive in Palo Alto felt endless. When it was finally time to close up the lab for the weekend, Liz practically ran from the hospital. Once she was a block or so away from the front of the medical facility, she pulled out her phone and called Max.

“Liz.” He greeted her when he answered.

“Hi,” she replied, “are you here?”

“I am.”

“Settled in?”

“Yup. Been here for a few hours.”

“Good. Because I have plans for you. I’ll be home in 10 minutes. Meet me downstairs in the parking garage by my car. Slot 26, in case you don’t see it right away. And bring a jacket. It might be cold.”

“Yes ma’am!” Max laughed. He paused and then his voice softened, “I can’t wait to see you, Liz.”

“Me too.” She smiled as she ended the call, picking up her walking pace a bit, eager to get to him. She crossed the railroad tracks, like she did every day, turning into the neighborhoods of Palo Alto. A few long blocks, and she was unlocking the side gate into the parking garage, and heading down the stairs into the basement garage. 

And there he was, leaning against her car, a book in hand, leather jacket slung over his arm as he read, waiting. Her eyes stung from tears that wanted to break through, but she blinked them back and hurried towards him. Her movement pulled his attention from the book. He looked up, their eyes met, and he smiled.

They met only a few feet from her car, as Liz flung herself into his embrace. He tightened his arms around her, holding her close, and whispering her name as he lowered his face towards hers. They just stood there for a long moment, eyes locked, noses just barely touching, as she breathed him in. 

She only had so much patience after their separation though, and soon she reached up and took his face in her hands to pull him down into a kiss. She knew that she was eager for his touch, but it was quickly clear that she wasn’t alone. He kissed her with a desperate thirst that she hadn’t felt from him since their very first kiss. Since then, their relationship had been gentle, full of patience, unrushed. Two weeks apart made them hungry for each other again. 

“I really missed you,” she whispered, when they finally stopped for air, her forehead pressed to his.

Once she felt steady enough, she stepped out of his embrace and smiled up at him. “I hope you’re okay with just a little more car time. There’s something I want to show you.” She unlocked the car and slid into the driver's seat. 

As Max jumped into the passenger seat and buckled his seatbelt, Liz gave him a playful grin, “Come on, Max. Let’s go on an adventure.”


	2. Chapter 2

He didn’t have a clue what Liz had up her sleeve. Rather than heading east towards Highway 101 and the San Francisco Bay, the familiar route he took into town, she headed towards the hills to the west, cutting around the edge of the Stanford University campus, before merging onto another freeway heading north. They hugged the hillsides for a few miles, then she pulled off the freeway onto another westward road. He watched the sunset reflect off of the mirroring water of a lake the road crossed over, before winding into hillsides covered by fragrant trees.

Max was 28 years old and until this week, he had never left home. Sure, he had taken the occasional day trip to Texas, or Arizona...occasionally southern Colorado. But to this day, he had never been on an airplane. Until now he had never left the southwest desert landscapes.

The Bay Area felt damp to him, with all of the ambient moisture in the air. The hills were mostly brown, but the trees were green and more lush than home. The sun was sinking low in the late afternoon sky to the west, catching his attention, and he was amazed to see just the slightest fingerlings of fog beginning to creep over the peaks of the hilltops. It was so foreign to him, so different from home. He was in awe of the world outside of Roswell.

As he stared out the window at the landscape rushing by, he reflected on how much his life had changed in just two weeks. It hadn’t taken him long to give notice and file his leave of absence paperwork with Sheriff Valenti. His last day on duty had been the previous Friday, an uneventful day that mostly involved wrapping up outstanding paperwork. Without a partner the Sheriff was less inclined to let him patrol, after all.

The weekend that followed was filled with goodbyes. Brunch with his parents and Isobel, drinks at the Wild Pony with Michael and Isobel. Maria was thrilled that he was going, kept popping by their booth with one-liners about how proud she was of him for following her, and how he’d better bring her back home for a visit soon. He swore he would and reminded them all that Liz’s job was only temporary.

Monday morning came quickly, and then he loaded his bags and books into the back of his Jeep, recently upgraded with a new engine thanks to Michael. And an hour later he was speeding past the same spot where he had pulled Liz over to confront her for running away from Roswell.

He had spoken to Liz at least briefly almost every day since she left. They would coordinate on their plans, or she would update him on life in California, or sometimes they just needed to hear each other’s voices. It was Liz who insisted that he should take his time on the drive, make a road trip out of it.  _ Of course I want you to get here,  _ she told him when he talked about driving through the night to arrive the next day,  _ But there is so much to see between Roswell and Palo Alto, and you’ve never seen this country. Take your time. Go to the Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, Hollywood. I have to work all week anyway. Just be here before the weekend. _

Unlike Liz, Max had never dreamed of future travels. She had always known where she wanted to go after high school, and he would have been content to follow in a perfect world. After she left, he couldn’t bring himself to dream of the places he might have gone that summer. So instead of trying to come up with his own plan, he decided to follow her suggestions.

It was about an 8 hour drive from Roswell to Flagstaff, Arizona, through mostly familiar desert landscape until he climbed into the high desert mountains surrounding the small city that was his first destination. It was icy cold in Flagstaff, with feet of snow piled up alongside the freshly plowed roads. Too cold to sleep in the Jeep, so he checked into a hotel for the night, with a room overlooking the Northern Arizona University campus. He walked into the small downtown area, grabbing a quick dinner at a food truck outside of a small brewery, before heading back to his room to call Liz and say goodnight.

Tuesday morning he woke with the dawn, grabbed coffee and a pastry, and headed north to the Grand Canyon. It was one of the most photographed places in the world, and yet the scale of it was still indescribable to him. As he stood there, on the edge of a cliff that somehow also felt like teetering on the edge of the world itself, he found himself thinking about Thoreau, Emerson, or Friedrich. Romantic masters who immersed themselves and their literary and artistic works in transcendent feelings of the sublime. He had an overwhelming urge to try to capture the awe he was feeling, so he grabbed his journal from the Jeep and sought out a semi-private bench to sit on as he poured his soul through his pen onto the page.

He stayed near the Canyon’s rim into the evening, daydreaming and writing until the sun disappeared behind the distant desert cliffs to the west. In the dark he left the park and headed down the main highway, where he checked into a cheap roadside motel to get a little rest. 

On Wednesday he drove to Las Vegas. He had never really wanted to go there. Vegas always seemed a little too bright, too loud, too shallow for his taste. The reality did very little to change his opinion. He drove up the strip, eyeing the overblown style of the massive casinos with skepticism. Only once did he laugh, when he passed a small Elvis-themed chapel just off the strip, and saw a young couple, the dark-haired bride with flowers in her hair, posing for photos with the impersonator who had just performed their ceremony.  _ Why would anyone want to get married by an Elvis impersonator? _

It was only mid day, but he’d had enough of Vegas. He consulted his map and decided that a detour was in order. He was never meant to be a city guy anyway. He got on the highway heading south and an hour later he crossed into California. He pulled to the side of the highway and took a picture of the sign to text to Liz.  _ Almost there,  _ his message read.

He was finally out of the mountains. California was warm and dry, even for winter. He drove until he was too tired to drive any further, and then he pulled the Jeep off onto a remote desert road and found a hidden spot to park and sleep for a few hours. 

Thursday morning he woke with the dawn and continued journeying southward through the California desert. Eventually, he turned due west, and after what felt like almost whole day free of any civilization, he drove into the town of Twentynine Palms. A quick stop at a convenience store was all he needed for provisions, and then he was back on the road again, turning south onto the access road to Joshua Tree. 

He had spent his entire life in the desert, but the New Mexico desert was nothing like this. The Joshua trees blanketed the landscape, their arms reaching towards the sky. They looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book, or an alien landscape from a movie. He parked the Jeep near a trailhead, grabbed his journal and some water, and took a hike up towards a rock formation. At the top he settled down on a rock and wrote out his thoughts on the view before him. 

He spend most of the day weaving his way southward through the park, stopping occasionally for a hike or a viewpoint. Eventually the desert began to change, the Joshua trees thinning out and eventually being completely replaced by cholla cacti. He pulled over at a sign pointing to the cholla cactus garden, and read in the displays about how the National Park contains two separate desert ecosystems. The Joshua trees populated the Mojave desert in the north, the chollas in the Colorado desert to the south. The Colorado desert felt much more natural to him than the strange Mojave landscape.

Eventually, his journey south took him out of the park and onto Interstate 10. He turned onto the freeway westbound, towards Los Angeles, civilization, and eventually Liz. It was late Thursday afternoon, and it felt as if his journey was ending. One night in L.A. and then a 7 hour drive north to Palo Alto on Friday morning. In 24 hours, he would be holding her in his arms once again.

~*~*~*~* _ ~ _ *~*~*~*~

After a short, winding trip through the hills, eventually they reached the end of the highway, and she turned left, heading south on Highway 1. There was a comfort in the quiet companionship. An old 90’s playlist dancing out of the speakers filled the air in her car. He held her hand between their seats, occasionally rubbing his thumb across her knuckles comfortingly. The sun was sinking low in the sky, and she smiled, grateful that she had timed this perfectly.

The highway curved outwards, and for a moment, the forest of cypress and eucalyptus trees fell behind them, as open farm fields stretched before them. And then, there it was, stretched out before them to the west. She could hear him suck in his breath in awe at the sight of it.

“Max Evans, meet the Pacific Ocean.” 

“It’s incredible.” 

A few more miles down the highway, she pulled over and parked the car. Silently, they stepped out into the cool, salty air and walked out onto the beach, holding hands as they watched the waves violently crash into the jagged shoreline. The sun sunk even lower along the horizon, and the sky deepened into a golden orange glow. 

He suddenly stopped, and turned to face her, a peaceful smile on his face.

“You know, there’s something I’ve been wanting to do since I was 17…” he pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“What’s that?” She asked him with a mocking naivety, even though she had a feeling she knew. He leaned down to capture her lips with his, and she smiled against his kiss, as she reached up to his face, gently caressing his stubble with her thumb. 

When she pulled back for air, he was the one with mischief in his eyes. “Kiss you by the ocean. You brought it up 10 years ago, and I’ve wanted to ever since.”

They stayed on the beach watching the waves in the sunset until the sun dipped down beyond the horizon and the first hint of stars started to dust the deepening indigo blue sky. The wind had picked up, and with the darkness it began to bite, sending a shiver through Liz. She decided to take it as a sign that it was time to move their evening along, so she took Max’s hand and led him back to the car.

Max couldn’t remember his soul ever feeling quite so light and free. It was like all of the darkness of the past year was long forgotten and now the future had arrived, and the future was he and Liz, driving north along the California coast. The air was heavy with salt and the scent of cedar and pines. Their hands were locked between them. Everything was simply perfect.

After leaving the beach, Liz took them back to the town of Half Moon Bay, and then continued north another 10 minutes or so, until she pulled off the highway near a small marina. The coastline here was littered with hotels and seafood restaurants, but Liz passed most of them by, following the road closer to the water, and then around a bend to the last restaurant at the end of the street.

Liz led him to a seat beside a fire pit on the patio out front, and she ordered a round of beers, fried artichokes, and a crab sandwich to share. He watched the glow of the fire dancing across her face, and just couldn’t believe that this was his real life. 

“This is my favorite restaurant that I’ve found here so far,” Liz told him. “They’re really into their craft beer out here in California, and a brewery with amazing seafood is about as classically coastal California as you can get! Plus, artichokes!”

He snagged another heart from their shared plate and devoured it with a smile, “Definitely not standard New Mexico fare,” he agreed, “I mean, nothing is slathered in chiles!”

“Our chiles are uniquely New Mexico, Max,” Liz explained with a laugh, “It was definitely something I had to accept that I was sacrificing all of those years that I was gone. But lots of places in this country have some local fare worth getting excited about.”

“Like crab and artichokes?” 

“Sure,” Liz agreed with a laugh. “But most specifically, here in the Bay Area, it’s all about the sourdough bread. Wait until you taste the sandwich.”

Max popped another artichoke in his mouth and then eyed the sandwich. “Any recommendations?” He asked.

“Just take your half and dig in!” 

He followed her instructions, and almost immediately concurred with her take on the food. The crab and artichokes were delicious, but the bread was heavenly. Soft and chewy inside, crunchy outside, and bursting with flavor. “How does anyone eat plain old French bread after trying this?” Max wondered out loud. Liz just laughed and shrugged, before snagging her half of the sandwich.

It felt late when they finally got back into Liz’s car and made their way back over the hill. Max drove her car this time, and followed Liz’s sleepy directions back to her apartment. When they pulled into the garage and parked, Max turned to Liz, their hands still locked between them. He had to let go briefly to put the car into park and pull on the parking brake, but then he locked his fingers through hers again, pulling them up to his lips, so that he could press a kiss to her knuckles.

“Thank you,” he murmured to her. “Tonight was perfect.”

Liz reached up and cupped his face with her free hand. Max leaned into her touch, closing his eyes as she gently stroked his cheek. “I’m so glad you’re here.” She told him. “I’ve really missed you these past few weeks.” 

She fell silent, her hand stilling against his face, and so he opened his eyes and met hers. She was staring at him like a puzzle that she hadn’t quite figured out, and he wondered what she was thinking.

He didn’t have to wait long before she shared though. “It’s so strange, how quickly everything has changed. It’s only been six months since I left Colorado; only a month since our first kiss, but I can’t imagine my life without you in it anymore. The past few weeks were so hard. But now that you’re here I just know everything is right in the world.”

He leaned closer to her, as her hand fell from his face, and pressed a firm kiss to her forehead. Dropping her hand, they got out of the car and headed upstairs to settle into her apartment for the night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adult Content warning ;-)

“You didn’t unpack?” Liz asked as she kicked off her shoes just inside the apartment door. She wasn't expecting to walk into the apartment to see his bags, and a few boxes of books, carefully stacked along the edge of the main room. “I thought you said you had a bit of time to settle in.”

“It’s a single,” Max answered, as pulled his boots off to leave beside Liz's flats. “Wasn’t sure where I should put my things. Or if I'm sleeping on the couch. Figured I'd wait to see what you want me to do. There’s plenty of time to unpack later.”

She shook her head and smiled, stepping up to him and taking his hands. “You are a good man, Max Evans. But sometimes you’re a little too good. You just drove more than 1,000 miles, across 3 states, to be here with me indefinitely, at my request, and you think I’m going to make you sleep on the couch?”

She slid her hands out of his to wrap around his waist and pulled him a little closer to her. “It never even occurred to me that we wouldn’t share a room after all of this, Max. Unless, of course, you’re worried about me taking advantage of you.”

Max laughed out loud, and then smiled, his eyes burning down into hers with a warm intensity that made her heart skip a beat. “You can do whatever you want to me. I’m all yours,” he murmured as he leaned in to kiss her.

“Good,” Liz sighed against his lips, as she reached up and unbuttoned his flannel shirt. His bare skin finally accessible, she pressed her hands to his abdomen, sliding them slowly up his solid chest. She paused, her hand over his heart, as she felt it racing beneath her touch.  _ It’s not racing because I’m scared of you…  _ she remembered him saying. His gaze had burned with such heat as he looked at her that day that she struggled to bury her feelings for him. She had been desperately trying to ignore them, to pretend that they didn’t exist. 

She had been such a fool to think that she could run from this. It was inevitable.

Just for a moment she pulled back from his kiss, suddenly feeling an overwhelming need to see what was in his eyes. They didn’t disappoint. His passion was searing, mirroring how he looked that day, but heavier somehow with the weight of the moment and where it was leading. She slid her hands from his chest, up to his shoulders and slipped his shirt off of them, allowing it to fall forgotten to the floor. She pulled her own shirt up over her head and abandoned it alongside his. 

“Bedroom,” she ordered, pushing him playfully towards the back of the apartment. He chuckled softly, but Liz wasn't laughing anymore. She swiftly unfastened her belt buckle and slid free from her slacks, and as she looked up she was pleased to see Max following her lead.

Naked, except for her bra, Liz turned down the bed covers and climbed into bed. She lay in the center of the bed, head on her pillow, feet flat against the mattress surface, knees bent and legs spread. An open invitation to Max that screamed of her intentions. She could hear that he was motionless. Then the light above her started flickering on and off, buzzing ever so slightly.

She sat up, just enough to look at him. As expected, he was standing near the foot of the bed, watching her with intensity.

"Am I making you lose control?" Liz asked with a smirk, gesturing to the flickering light. 

"Only you ever do," he responded, circling around to the side of the bed to slide in next to her, then he flipped himself so that he lay over her, slipping his body between her open legs, so that they matched eye to eye, hip to hip, chest to chest. He leaned down to capture her lips once more.

Liz smiled. She couldn’t help herself. She felt like she was going to burst with happiness. Max pulled back from the kiss and looked down at her, a soft smile on his face to mirror her own.

“What?” He asked.

Liz reached up and took his head in her hands, palms on his cheeks. They held each other’s gaze, eye to eye, as she gently stroked her fingers through his hair.

“I was just thinking that I’m so damn happy,” Liz explained to him. “This is like a dream.” But then as she lay there, lost in the love in Max’s eyes, she suddenly found herself rewinding through the events of the past few weeks and how they got to this moment. Her smile faded. 

“Max, I want… I mean, I need to make sure you understand. I didn’t want to leave you. You know that, right? I felt like I needed to see the study through, and I didn’t think that  _ this _ would be a possibility given everything that happened with Isobel and Noah…I just felt like I had to make the hard choice for us. But I didn’t want to leave you, and it was ripping my heart in two. This...you… I want us more than anything else in the world. Because I am completely and utterly in love with you, Max Evans.”

“Liz…” Max stammered, but she could see in his eyes that he was just feeling too much to put into words. Again, the ceiling light above them sizzled and flickered, pulling Liz’s attention away momentarily. She chuckled, and pulled him in for another kiss.

The heat and the passion took over. Max was unable to put his feelings into words, so instead he showed them to her by touch. He showed them through the desperate way that he captured her lips with each and every kiss. His love was expressed from each gentle touch of his hands, as they moved across her skin. It was in the careful fingers that he slid into her heat, to check to see if she was ready for him. And finally, the way he held her as he pushed inside of her.

The light sizzled again, and then popped, throwing the room into darkness. But they didn’t need the light anymore. Their bodies were already locked together, and all they needed was to feel each other, guiding their movements through the darkness

All she could feel was the fire inside her heart, burning brighter and hotter as they moved together, his steady thrusts pushing her closer and closer to falling over the edge of the cliff. 

She clung to his body, clawing her way closer to him, desperately needing Max to feed the flames. She needed her fire to burn the frail, paper exterior of his soulful heart until it merged with the crackling electricity that surged underneath the surface. She wanted their hearts burning together, her fire and his electricity, feeding each other's hunger until it all became too much. Liz cried out as she tumbled over the edge, pulling herself tightly to Max, as his thrusts became unsteady, and he pressed himself deep into her, following her over the edge. 

When they regained their senses, Max rolled to lie on his back, and Liz curled up beside him, a hand on his chest, as she pulled the blankets on the bed up around them and snuggled to sleep. He kept an arm around her shoulders, her neck resting on it, and his fingers tangled in the long curtain of her hair falling over her shoulder and down her side. 

Liz began to drift off into a light doze, but just before her mind shut off completely, she felt Max press a light kiss to her forehead, and whisper softly, “I love you too.”

~*~*~*~* _ ~ _ *~*~*~*~

They ended up spending four comfortable months in Palo Alto. It almost felt like a honeymoon, except that they were just living their lives, simply, without the conflict of outside pressure from their friends and family. There was no alien drama, no murders, no serial killers posing as husbands. It was just the two of them, in their little downtown apartment.

Liz spent her days in the lab, trying to complete her research with Dr. Avila. Every evening when she came home, even the days that she was exhausted from long days on her feet, she still glowed with excitement from the progress that they were making. Every time Max saw that gleam of enthusiasm in Liz’s eyes, he felt a surge of pride in her and he just knew that she made the right choice in seeing this study through to completion.

Meanwhile, Max felt like he was being afforded a life of leisure. He had no job, no responsibilities. For the first time in his life, he had the time and freedom to do as he wished with his time, and so, he was writing. Some days he stayed in, worked all day in the little apartment that had quickly come to feel like home. Other days he just took a notebook and wandered around downtown, stopping for a few hours at a local coffee shop or bar, where he could sit for hours with his thoughts without issue. His favorite days, though, were the ones where he decided to get in his Jeep and drive to the coast. It was as easy to get to the beach from Palo Alto as it was to go to the desert from Roswell. Just a short drive outside of town, over the hill, and there it was. 

There was something inspiring about the ocean. It wasn’t home the way the desert was home, but it spoke to Max’s soul in a different way, a more foreign way. He found beauty in the contrast between the power of the crashing waves, and the gentle sounds that filled the air as the water slipped back out with the tide. The sound of the sea birds calling to each other, and the salty smell in the air was enchanting. He felt inspired and moved every day that he spent by the water.

On weekends, they explored together, everywhere they could think to go while living in Northern California. They spent a romantic weekend in Napa, sipping on expensive wine tastings in beautiful vineyards. One weekend they drove up to the ancient redwood forests on the North Coast, and marveled at how the trees reached high into the sky. They explored San Francisco and Oakland, went to museums and breweries and baseball games and parks. 

The adventures were all wonderful, memorable, the experiences of a lifetime that Max would never forget. But if he was honest with himself, his favorite weekends were the ones where they were too tired to go anywhere. Occasionally they suffered a bit of burnout, and would stay in for the weekend, wrapped up together in bed, relaxing, talking softly to each other, dozing off for naps in each other’s arms, and then waking up and making love gently, slowly, reverently. 

Max had one notebook that he kept hidden away from Liz. It only came out when she wasn’t around. This notebook was his favorite one. It was filled with pages and pages of poems and stories, almost all of them inspired by the quiet weekends that they spent together at home. There were entire soliloquies about Liz’s strength and brilliance. There were verses on the sound of her laughter, sonnets about her eyes when she smiled, even a haiku about the freckles along her collarbone. 

Sometimes Max thought back to that night, not long after Liz returned to Roswell, when he first admitted to her that he loved her, even though she wasn’t ready for him yet. Isobel had been arguing with him about his pathetic love for someone who wasn’t returning it, and for a few weeks, he started to believe her. He wondered what that Max Evans would think if he saw this one today. He was a lovesick fool and he loved every minute of it.

Max almost wasn’t ready for it the evening that Liz came home from the lab and announced that Dr. Avila had scheduled the presentation of their findings to the board for a week later. “If the board approves publication of our findings, then that’s it, Max. No more research. We’re free to head back to Roswell. I can write my pieces of the study publication from home.”

The mere thought of returning home caused his stomach to churn. On one hand, he missed the warmth of the desert, and the presence of his sister nearby. They spoke on the phone regularly, but it wasn’t the same as feeling her all the time. On the other hand though, leaving this life behind, this dream come true, was hard to even consider. Max tried to imagine getting dressed in his uniform for patrol, strapping on his gun, and arguing with drunks and vagrants on a regular basis once again. 

He wasn’t lying to Liz when he told her that he liked protecting people. But his lyrical soul wasn’t made for the darker, harsher side of law enforcement. Still, at least he had time to get used to the idea of going back to his old life.

It was the day before her presentation, that Liz came home again with more detail. “I discussed with Dr. Avila, and here’s what we agreed to do. If the board approves the study, I need to stick around for a day or two to draft a memo documenting the findings, and get it reviewed and signed. Once that’s done though, Dr. Avila is comfortable taking a few weeks off to recover from this push before we finalize the publication report. So I was thinking… we should take that road trip home together.”

The next day the study unanimously approved by the board and their plan was set. Liz left it to Max to plan their route home while she finished up with her final tasks. Meanwhile, Max began packing up their apartment. He was a little sad to say goodbye to his Jeep - it had been a staple throughout his adult life. But perhaps moving on from it was just another symbol of the changes he was going through, now that he and Liz's lives were intertwined with one another's.

They waited until mid-morning Friday to set off, since there was no reason to start their road trip off sitting in Bay Area commute traffic. Max used the cool, foggy morning to pack Liz's Subaru with as much stuff as they could possibly fit inside.

Going from two cars worth of possessions down to one wasn't the easiest. They each agreed to donate some clothes to the local homeless shelter to reduce their loads. Liz convinced Dr. Avila to pay to have all of her research materials shipped home. It was a struggle, but somehow he managed to select a box full of books to walk down the street and deliver to the used bookstore.

When they finally departed, Max was in the driver's seat of Liz's car. Liz leaned back against the passenger side door and chuckled as she clicked a picture of Max driving. He glanced at her with an amused grin and she snapped a second photo, before shifting back into her proper seat and putting her phone away.

"What was that all about?" Max asked.

"We're finally taking the road trip you've been dreaming of since you were 17," Liz explained. "I'm going to document this journey for us as best I can, so that you never forget it."

“Liz,” Max said with a laugh, “I don’t think I could forget a moment of this trip if I tried.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for my LONG absence... life has been in upheaval. Still is, really. BUT I decided to use Liz + Wanderlust as a good excuse to post the next chapter of this one. 
> 
> While I was editing this tonight I had one of my top 10 favorite songs of all time playing through my head, so on the theme of wanderlust, I’ll throw out the recommendation for Get Out the Map by the Indigo Girls.
> 
> Get out the map, get out the map  
> Throw your finger anywhere down  
> We’ll leave the figuring to those we pass on our way out of town  
> Don’t drink the water there seems to be something ailing everyone  
> I’m gonna clear my head  
> I’m gonna drink that sun  
> I’m gonna love you good and strong  
> While our love is good and young

They headed east, over the San Francisco Bay for the last time on the long, skinny San Mateo Bridge, and within an hour, they were on the edge of suburbia, headed out into the Central Valley. They stopped for lunch in Sacramento, at a little burrito stand on the edge of the industrial part of town. 

“My last California burrito,” Max lamented, as he unwrapped the foil from the top and took a taste of the adobado.

“But...chiles!” Liz reminded him. “I can’t wait for blue corn enchiladas Christmas style. This is my third time living in this state, and somehow I still can’t believe that with all of the amazing food here, no one in California even knows what that means.”

Not long after leaving Sacramento, the valley started to transition into low rolling hills, and eventually the hills became the Sierra Nevada mountains. The highway wove through evergreen forests, past lakes and overlooks, until they reached Donner Summit. Then, Max pulled the car off of the highway and turned south. The sun was getting lower in the sky, but the sunset hadn’t quite begun yet. There was Just enough sunlight left in the day for a short stop. He pulled into a parking lot next to a lakeside beach, and together, they got out of the car and wandered down to the shoreline.

The lake was vast, crystal blue, and cold. The low sun reflected off of the surface like a mirror. Max and Liz walked hand and hand along the lakeside for a short while, and then they just sat on the sand and watched the sun slowly set into the enormous lake. 

“I haven’t been here in years,” Liz reminisced to him. “I spent a few months doing a summer study program at UC Davis when I was 20. I came up here with some classmates for a weekend to party at someone’s cabin. We didn’t really take the time to properly appreciate how beautiful Lake Tahoe is.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Max marveled. I mean, the Bay and the Ocean are both huge, but the Bay connects to the ocean and it makes sense that the ocean is so vast. This? I never knew a lake could be this big.” 

“And California is in the arid part of the country,” Liz reminded him. “On the east coast they have so much more water than here in California. The Great Lakes are so big that they are considered oceans by many environmental groups, including the government.”

That night they got a room in a cheap hotel near the lake. They turned in for the night, one day on the road down, and yet, they hadn’t even left California yet. 

They made love, softly, slowly, with patience and adoration. Naked and satisfied, Max lay there, a goofy smile on his face, as Liz curled up against him and drifted off to sleep. 

Careful not to disturb her, he reached to the nightstand for his cellphone, and pulled up google documents. Before he slept, he wanted to write about all of the things they had seen and done that day.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Liz couldn't imagine a world where she could not feel awed to wake up in Max Evans arms. They had lived together for four months, and it still felt new and exciting to feel the heat of his body next to hers on a cold morning.

Palo Alto had changed everything. Liz was glad that they were taking this road trip. It was giving them some transition time between the perfection of their exile together in California, and their friends and family waiting at home. She and Max hadn't talked about it yet. Liz felt like unspoken, they had both approached Palo Alto as taking the future of their relationship out for a test drive. But now that it was ending, Liz couldn't imagine moving back into her little bedroom over the Crashdown without Max. She wanted to buy the whole car, when it came to Max.

Max was still asleep, and with a long day of driving ahead of them, Liz wanted to let him sleep for as long as he needed to. So she just stayed there, curled up beside him, trying to stay as still as possible, while watching his slow, even breaths. 

It was strange. She could remember what it felt like to be afraid of this. She could remember questioning whether or not his feelings were real, denying the truth in what she felt. She could remember wanting to run from this. But now, all those feelings seemed ridiculous, because this was wonderful and now that she had it, she couldn't imagine her life without him in it.

The intimacy of being this physically close to him, this tuned into him, still amazed her. She could tell immediately as he began to wake up from a shift in his breathing. She stayed still and waited. There was a little shift in the stiffness of his muscles. Then, she felt his arm tighten around her waist, pulling her even more flush with his body.

"Good morning," Liz murmured to him. 

He peeked his eyes open, just the tiniest bit, and gave her a sleepy smile.

"Morning," he mumbled back groggily, before burying his face in her hair, up against the side of her head. She could feel him breathe in the scent of her and sigh happily, so she reached over with her free hand and ran it through his own mess of hair gently. 

When he was finally awake enough to face the world, he sat up, coaxing her to join him. He gave her a soft, lingering kiss good morning, before rolling out of bed. 

They grabbed coffee on their way out of town, and then once more, they were on the interstate, heading east through the mountains.

"Unfortunately we've got a long day of driving today," Max told her. "Not a whole lot to do in northern Nevada from what I could see. Figured we'd just drive straight through to Salt Lake City today. Have some fun tomorrow."

"Sounds good," Liz agreed. She pressed her forehead against the cool window, watching the world go by. It was a quick, steep drop out of the mountains and into the Great Basin. The land was flat for miles ahead, interrupted only by the jagged skyscrapers in downtown Reno. They were flashy even in the daylight, every building a different casino, proving that they weren't in California anymore. They passed the city quickly, and soon they found themselves heading quickly towards hills that jutted up into the horizon in front of them.

The further they drove from California, the more arid and familiar the landscape became. Nevada wasn't officially considered the desert, but it had a similar feel to it. And the more the land looked like home, the more Liz found her mind lost in the endless cycle of questions about their future that she couldn't shake away that morning in bed. So she finally decided to do something about it.

"Max...what's going to happen when we get home?"

He glanced quickly at her, concern apparent in his eyes, before returning them to the road. "What do you mean?" He asked. "It's home. We go back to our lives."

"Don't be obtuse," Liz argued. "We just lived together for four months, and now we're headed home. Are you saying we go back to our lives as they were before all of this? That this experience changed nothing for you?"

Max was silent for a long moment, his eyes trained on the road in front of him. There was an unfathomable look in his eyes, and Liz wondered what was going on in his head. 

"Is that what you want?" he finally asked her. "Because I don't. This changed everything for me. I can't imagine going back to my life as it was before we left."

"Me either." Liz agreed with a sigh of relief.

"So does that mean you'd consider moving into my house with me?" 

Liz smiled and tried to picture it in her head. She had only been to Max's house a handful of times, and she had never considered it as a potential future home for herself. Now, she tried to imagine it. Summer nights curled up in front of the house with a blazing fire burning in the firepit. Cold winter nights on the couch, she and Max sharing a blanket as they watched a movie. She thought about his library, and wondered if it would be hard for him to make room for her science publications. She saw herself making churro pancakes in his kitchen, making love in his bed.

Yes, Max's house could definitely be home to her

"That sounds perfect." Liz agreed, grinning happily at him.

It was already dark when they drove into Salt Lake City that evening. Liz directed Max to a hotel for the evening, and after a long day on the road, they were happy to just get out of the car and rest a bit.

"Tomorrow will be more exciting," Max promised, before they drifted off to sleep.

~*~*~*~* _ ~ _ *~*~*~*~

Max woke with a groan, as he felt her lips kissing the side of his neck.

“What was that?” She questioned, before returning her lips to his neck, where they sealed around a bit of his skin and sucked, just ever so slightly. His low groan turned into a moan.

“Hmm. I still can’t understand you,” Liz whispered, her torturous lips now nearly brushing the side of his ears as she spoke. “Maybe I need to get a little closer.”

She kicked a leg over his body, straddling him, her heat pressed against his hard length, and he groaned again, even as she bent down, her chest pressed to his torso, and leaned in closer to feign trying to listen to him closely. Her own head was so close to his now, that Max decided he had enough of her teasing. He leaned up and nibbled just slightly on her ear, before pulling her face down for a good morning kiss.

“You’re brutal.” He informed her, but she just grinned back at him, clearly knowing that he didn’t really mind waking up like this. She shifted her position on top of him just slightly, and reached down between them to guide him inside of her. He moaned again as she shifted again to ensure that he was fully sheathed within her, and then Liz began to roll her hips. Max buried his face in her neck to try to keep himself from crying out too loudly, which was fucking hard. She was so tight and hot around him, and with every roll of her hips, every clench of her muscles around him, she was driving him further away from any sense of control. Within a few minutes, Max bit down lightly on the nape of her neck while he released, and Liz soon followed, gasping along as she rode out her own wave of pleasure, clinging to him as it overtook her. 

As his heart rate began to steady, Max finally pulled his head back from her embrace. He reached out and ran a gentle hand through her hair, pushing it back from her face, while coaxing her to meet his eyes.

“Not that I’m complaining - I can wake up like that any time you want, Liz - but what’s the occasion?”

Liz laughed, her voice a little raspy from the workout she had just completed. “I wanted to get our day going!” She explained. “You said today was gonna be fun, and I just didn’t want to waste it away in bed.”

“So you woke me up by giving me every reason to want to stay in bed with you,” Max joked.

“Well, you’re awake now. So it worked,” Liz gave him a mischievous grin. “So how about we get going!”

They drove south all morning through mountains and across arid desert landscapes, and right around midday they reached their destination.

"Oh!" Liz exclaimed as Max turned the car off of the highway. "Arches! I've never been here, but I've always wanted to see it!"

"I was thinking we could take a hike or two. We could use a day out of the car...let's just enjoy the outdoors today."

"Sounds perfect," Liz agreed.

Max drove them to the trailhead that he had researched. They were silent as they changed into their sturdy walking shoes, which gave Max a moment to reflect on his plan, his stomach flip flopping nervously. 

This was the day of their trip that he had spent the most time planning out, and he was relieved at the ease in which Liz was just letting him run the show, without questions. He had been meticulous in his planning, looking for the right place, the right hike, the right view for what he had planned, and it was all coming together seamlessly.

He didn't  _ think _ he needed to be this nervous. But then again, he could see someone making the argument that it was too soon. That they had been too rash, diving into such a serious relationship so quickly. But the critics didn’t know what went on inside of his head, where he had been solidly dedicated to her for the majority of his life. And the critics weren't Liz, who had somehow found it possible to fall in love with him, even knowing the worst things that he had ever done, and how they destroyed her family. 

And somehow, Max just knew. After everything that they had been through, this was the right time for him to ask her this question.

He just prayed that she would say yes.


End file.
